Fate of a Cockroach

“Do you know what is to be found behind this shiny wall? I have climbed to the top of it many times and have seen the strangest things…”

Somewhere under a leaky tap, a cockroach king holds court over a kingdom he cannot control, dodging questions from a minister, a priest and a savant—who disagree about nearly everything. Meanwhile, in the same bathroom, looking down from above, a husband and wife are fighting their own small war over who gets in first. When a cockroach falls into the bathtub, everyone loses their mind. A doctor gets called in. Clearly…nobody is well.

ITI brings you Egyptian playwright Tawfiq al-Hakim's Fate of a Cockroach , adapted and directed by German director Ulrich Meyer-Horsch, and performed by graduating actors Henry Joseph Fundo, Jyoti Rana and Pratiksha Sindhu, from the Philippines and India.

Teetering between two realms, the insect and the human, Fate of a Cockroach is a satirical allegory on power, pride, imagination, and the hopeful—often ridiculous—struggle to live.

Meyer-Horsch’s adaptation challenges the three performers to transform between multiple roles, and invites audiences to ask what it means to be living beings in communion with each other, and how we might imagine worlds beyond our own in the spaces we share.

Key Production Credits

Directed and Adapted by Ulrich Meyer-Horsch

Production Designer: Bernice Ong Ulrich Meyer-Horsch

Lighting Designer: Faith Liu Yong Huay

Sound Designer: Syafiq Halid

Production Manager: Clarisse Ng

Stage Manager: Cheryl Lee

Graphic Designer: Arvind Jay

Publicity Visual Photographer: Gwyn Lau